French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are personally courting tech CEOs to lock in billions of dollars in AI infrastructure investment, as their countries push to keep pace with the United States and China. Their personal charm offensives have already secured commitments from SoftBank, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google for data centers, cloud infrastructure, and chip development.
The pair stand out among nations racing to build the ecosystems needed to power artificial intelligence for their reliance on direct personal relationships with business leaders. Both have intensified their outreach this year to close deals that shape national AI ambitions.
Macron hosts AI leaders
In May, SoftBank announced plans to build 3.1 GW of AI data centers in France by 2031 as part of a 75-billion-euro program. Macron requested a meeting with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son two months earlier to persuade him, and the two exchanged text messages as they hashed out the details, Son told CNBC. Macron committed to securing 3GW of power capacity instead of the 2GW initially proposed, touting France's nuclear-generated electricity.
"His team, the government team is very supportive," Son said. "His team and our team work in collaboration very well." For policy makers involved in such negotiations, understanding AI's infrastructure demands is critical, from power requirements to regulatory alignment - areas covered in the AI Learning Path for Policy Makers.
Around the same time, Macron invited tech leaders to a working lunch during France's G7 presidency in June. CEOs attending included OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis, and leaders from European AI startups such as Mistral, Cohere, and Synthesia.
India courts U.S. tech giants
Modi hosted top U.S. executives at India's Global AI summit in February. "India does not see fear in AI. India sees fortune in AI. India sees the future in AI," he said in his opening address, urging global leaders to "Design and Develop in India."
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy committed a record $48 billion investment, with $21 billion allocated to AI and cloud infrastructure. Microsoft announced its largest Asian investment to build sovereign AI capabilities for India, while Google detailed a $15 billion plan to create its largest AI hub outside the U.S.
To attract hyperscalers, Modi's government offered long-term tax breaks, reflecting an AI for Government approach that prioritizes public-sector-led infrastructure growth. India also pushed domestic semiconductor production: during Modi's Netherlands visit, ASML agreed to supply advanced lithography tools for Tata Electronics' 300mm fab, and Intel signed on as a prospective chip buyer.
India still relies heavily on foreign AI models and hardware, leaving its ambitions vulnerable to export controls. The recent global AI stocks rally bypassed India entirely, underscoring the economic urgency of Modi's personal diplomacy.
Why this matters for government, finance, and IT professionals
Government - National AI strategies now hinge on personal diplomacy and rapid infrastructure agreements. Officials need a working grasp of data center power scales, incentive structures, and how to coordinate between hyperscalers and domestic energy grids.
Finance - The AI investment wave is redirecting capital flows. Countries that fail to anchor major data center projects risk exclusion from the next tech equity cycle, as India's stock market performance shows when AI-linked growth passes it by.
IT and development - Multi-gigawatt data center builds and new chip fabrication plants create intense demand for technical talent, from network architecture to hardware integration. These projects will shape supply chains and job markets for years.
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